Wednesday, 4 January 2017

The SocMed 2017 Experience begins!

Ever heard of SocMed before? Yes for some of you and for others, this might perhaps be the first time you are hearing about this. SocMed is a non-profit organization that was established with a mission to advocate for and implement global health curricula imbued through a philosophy of praxis, the personal and partnership. These concepts will definitely become familiar to you as we get along.

It is said that people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. This holds true to healthcare professionals inclusive of students within the medical field. Beyond the biological basis of disease; the social and economic causation of illness, an immersion course in social medicine organized by SocMed gives meaning to this assertion.

The 2017 SocMed course participants come from across the globe in particular from Uganda, Rwanda, Lebanon, Zimbabwe and the United States. Tuesday January, 3rd was the date of arrival and the atmosphere was filled with excitement among all of us to meet as if we had known each other ages ago. Thanks to the era of technology. The chit chat and familiarization process had begun months ago on the 2017 SocMed WhatsApp group. On this day, despite meeting physically for most of us for the first time, the interaction was honestly amazing and filled with warmth.

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Olirus Alex (Left) and Dr, Emmanuel Ochola after sharing with the Social Medicine class about the background of St. Mary 's Hospital, Lacor Hospital

The first day of our class got us being enlightened about the background of the course site St. Mary's Hospital, Lacor; social medicine determinants of health and the social theories of global health.

An illustration of one of the theories of the global health using video presentation

Are you wondering whether it was all about studying and no play? Worry not, beyond the class work came the fun time. The social moment was really awesome. Work without play makes Peter a dull boy, so goes the English adage. Indeed, the display of the unique dance strokes to a couple of local and international music fused with the enjoyment of the delicious cake and the yummy yellow bananas were the highlights of the evening. We have been energised, oriented into the course and are expectant of a lot more learning, interaction and fun in the coming days and so should you expect the updates on this blog. The conversation continues. A great start it was!. Tomorrow, we focus attention on narrative medicine and introduction to the clinical components of social medicine.

The Welcome Cake

The Participant Representatives from the different countries getting ready to cut the cake